http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=285057


in reply to Re: Win32::API (finally)
in thread Win32::API

Very nice and Very handy package.
I'm having a problem, however... :-)

In short, I'm trying to use Win32::API to call CreateProcess.

All is well except for the LPSTARTUPINFO and LPPROCESS_INFORMATION parms I pass into the call. If I create these using pack(...) for the correct number of bytes, it works fine and I can get the PID back out of the PROCESS_INFORMATION object (my ultimate goal).

If, however, I create these parms using the Win32::API::Struct->new( 'STARTUPINFO' ) approach, the call fails. I'm even setting the .cb field to the size of the structure. The error I get back (using Win32::GetLastError()) is "Invalid access to memory location". Here's the function call I'm making (same in both cases):

<-----------snip------------> # version 1 - succeeds my $si = pack( "L17", ((0) x 17) ); $si = pack( "LL16", length( $si ), ((0) x 16 ) ); my $pi = pack( "L4", ((0) x 4 ) ); # version 2 - fails my $si = Win32::API::Struct->new( "STARTUPINFO" ); $si->{cb} = $si->sizeof(); my $pi = Win32::API::Struct->new( "PROCESS_INFORMATION" ); my $retval = CreateProcess( "c:\\winnt\\notepad.exe", 0, # unused - cmdline ptr, unused 0, # unused - proc attributes ptr 0, # unused - thread attributes ptr 0, # unused - inherit handles 0, # unused - creation flags 0, # unused - env pointer 0, # unused - current dir ptr $si, $pi ); <-----------snip------------>
Should CreateProcess be called the same way in both cases? When a ->new('STARTUPINFO') is called, is the memory zeroed-out upon creation? Any idea why the pack version succeeds and the Struct verion fails?

TIA!
D. Smith